A Lonely Boa, and an Even Lonelier Boy
by kakakakatiebug
Summary: Henrique was just a sad boa constrictor living at the zoo, dealing with the same bratty kids day in and day out. But one day he meets a scrawny black haired boy with a funny scar, and knew his life would never be the same. Harry's encounter with the boa constrictor from The Sorcerer's Stone, but told from the boa constrictor's perspective.


"Make it move!"

Henrique was awoken from his slumber by a rather large human banging on his glass enclosure. The pudgy boy's fat finger continued poking on the glass with annoying gusto. His fat face was pressed right up against the wall and he was leaving snot imprints all over the other side of the enclosure.

"Make it move!" The fat nitwit now directed his comment to an even fatter nitwit, which Henrique could only assume was his father. The father, displaying no more intelligence than his son, repeated the same tapping motion. Completely unimpressed with the lack of intelligence in the room, Henrique dozed back into his mid afternoon nap.

"Do it again," the snot nose human ordered. Henrique just kept his eyes closed. "Ignore them", Henrique thought to himself. "It's not their fault they aren't as highly evolved." But try as he might to block the sounds of the snot nose human's father rapping on the glass with his knuckles, Henrique just couldn't go back to sleep. But, this snot nose kid wasn't the first to test his patience, and Henrique knew he wouldn't be the last. He had been trapped in this enclosure for the past 10 years, each day being subjugated to bratty children banging on his glass and even brattier adults trying to assert their intellectual superiority by rousing a reaction out of him.

Finally, Henrique heard heavy thuds, as the snot nose duo waddled away, no doubt to try and go annoy Khalifa the Komodo dragon in the adjacent enclosure. Relieved to be finally free of examination, Henrique opened his eyes only to come face to face with two bright green orbs.

This human wasn't like the normal children that came to visit him. Henrique sensed something special about him. He was small and scrawny and Henrique thought that he looked like he could use a good feeding. Additionally, the baggy clothing he was wearing didn't help to hide the boy's small stature. The large t-shirt he wore reached his knobby knees and Henrique thought that they would have fit the baby killer whale child that preceded this boy better than its current wearer. He also wore round glasses that were held together with duct tape in the middle. Overall the child projected an image of neglect. The boy didn't tap on the glass, but merely stared intently at Henrique. Henrique peered into his eyes and saw sorrow. He felt like this boy understood him, that this boy was special. But how could that be?

Henrique, feeling mischevious and an odd desire to cheer up the scrawny human did something bold. He waited until the child was staring at him and then once they had formed eye contact, winked.

The bespeckled boy stared blankly at him, as though he seemed unsure of what had just happened. The boy then began looking around him. Henrique feared he had made a grave error and that the boy was going to turn out just like the others and call everyone over to him, when much to Henrique's delight, the boy winked back and smiled. Henrique, fueled by the need for companionship and an intuitive feeling that this particular boy was special, experimented with more forms of communication. He jerked his head toward the baby killer whale boy and his equally as whale-sized father saying, "I get that all the time."

"I know, " the boy murmured through the glass, seemingly unsure and a little embarrassed. "It must be really annoying," the child added. Henrique tried to contain his shock. Was the boy speaking to him? Did he know Parseltongue? He had heard his mother years ago talk about some rare and special humans being able to communicate with snakes but never did he fathom meeting one. It suddenly all made sense, his feelings of camaraderie, intuitive feeling of friendship and why the boy could understand him. Anxious for more socialization, Henrique nodded his head vigorously trying, eager to finally have a civilized conversation.

"Where do you come from, anyway?" inquired the boy, seemingly less embarrassed about the fact he was conversing with a snake. Henrique jabbed his tail at the information sign located right next to the outer glass wall of the enclosure. The small sign read: Boa Constrictor, Brazil.

"Was it nice there?"

Henrique feeling a bit frustrated that the boy didn't bother to read the smaller set of writing under the large letters, jabbed his tail once again at the small sign. If the human had just bothered to read he would have seen that Henrique was bred in the zoo, and that asking him about his country of origin was a very sensitive topic to ask a snake you had just recently become acquainted with.

"Oh, so I see- so you've never been to Brazil?"

Henrique was growing quite frustrated with the boy's lack of social etiquette in regards to personal questions and had straightened up to lecture the sweet, but clearly uncivilized child when a small child resembling the rat that Henrique had for breakfast came bounding towards the enclosure.

"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

And then, as though the reptilian gods were trying to make Henrique have the worst day in his already sad life, the snot nose kid, his snot nose dad and the child resembling his breakfast all waddled to his enclosure like some obscenely comical menagerie.

"Out of the way, you." Cried the large child as he punched the bespeckled boy in the ribs with his fat elbow. Henrique watched helplessly as his new friend toppled to the floor, feeling considerably sorry for thinking such awful things about the sweet child, despite his lack of conversational etiquette. Out of concern, Henrique leaned forward in order to try to comfort the fallen boy, but when he did he found his head didn't hit solid glass. Instead, much to Henrique's surprise, his head kept leaning further and further until he toppled forward and was suddenly next to his fallen friend.

"I'm free, " thought Henrique as he looked around and gazed into the terrified eyes of several humans around him. Not wasting any more time, Henrique began sliding forward, chuckling to himself as people were screaming and jumping out of his way.

Remembering his manners, Henrique hissed, "Brazil, here I come…Thanksss, Amigo." to his friend and the source of his newfound freedom. "I really need to start learning some other Spanish words," thought Henrique to himself as he slithered into the sunset, leaving behind him a panicking crowd.

As Henrique traveled south he thought more and more about his young friend. The boy was special, there was no doubt about it, and the fact he could speak to him meant that the boy was a powerful wizard indeed. His mother had always spoke of the great honor it was to meet a Parseltongue. At the thought of his mother, Henrique couldn't help but smile. Though he was bred in the zoo, his mother was released back into the wild after the zoo received complaints about a viper being too scary for the local clientele. Unfortunately for Henrique, the zoo's wild plans for a viper/boa hybrid failed and he had been hatched a boa, meaning he was forced to stay at the zoo. He hadn't seen his mother in years and wondered if she would even be able to recognize him anymore. Henrique knew the thought of meeting his mother again was far fetched, but he didn't care. For all Henrique cared he would slither up to every snake in South America and ask if they had heard of a beautiful viper named, Nagini.

"Who knew," mused Henrique as he continued slithering onwards, maybe one day I will find my mother and even be able to introduce her to the boy who freed me.


End file.
